Turtle
/ Tortoise Tattoo Designs
- Western cultures have long seen the tortoise as symbolic of
patience and wisdom under duress. Aesop's fable of "The Tortoise and
the Hare" is a celebration of the tortoise's steadfastness in the
face of the speedy hare. The turtle's ability to escape danger by
retreating into its shell has made it a powerful symbol of
protection, healing, and inner knowledge. Little wonder that many
identify with the spirit of the tortoise and make of it a reassuring
tattoo design.

Turtle or tortoise - for purposes of symbology the difference is
semantic, since they're of the same family. A tortoise spends its
life in mainly arid terrain, and would probably drown in open water.
The turtle can manage both realms of land and sea, swimming by
holding its breath. The sea turtle, the largest of this family,
rarely leaves the water except to lay its eggs.

Because of its early appearance on the planet - as much as 250
million years ago - the turtle is often associated with Creator
symbolism. Indigenous peoples refer to North America as Turtle
Island. According to legend, North America was created on the back
of a turtle. In India, the tortoise supported the
elephant, who, in
turn supported the world.

In Chinese culture, the turtle has been attributed with strength,
endurance, slowness, fecundity, and longevity. Its image appeared on
the imperial banner as an emblem of protection in war. For the
Japanese, the sea turtle was the emblem of Kumpira, the god of
sailors. In Africa, where it has been a masculine symbol of
fertility, the tortoise is also a household pet and emblem of
protection. And in Ancient Greece, the turtle found a home as the
emblem of Aphrodite, goddess of
love, who associated the animal with
the feminine/yielding aspect of water.

The turtle's legendary stability and endurance qualify it for a
place of prominence in carvings and sculptures in many of the
world's ancient cultures. For the Mayans, the turtle was associated
with water and land and thunder. One Mayan deity is depicted wearing
a turtle shell on his head. The Iroquois have their Giant Turtle,
symbol of the wisest. Not so popular with the Aztecs, however, the
turtle represented cowardice and boastfulness - hard on the outside,
soft on the inside.

Amongst coastal peoples around the world, the sea turtle has become
a special symbol of longevity, fertility and good fortune. As a
graceful swimmer, it is also represents freedom. The sea turtle is
unique in that it lives in water - it has flippers, not feet -- but
must leave its favoured medium to procreate. It builds a nest on
land. The journey from the ocean's edge across great stretches of
sand, dragging its weight without hurrying or complaining, has made
the sea turtle a symbol of patience and virtue. Once a suitable
beach nest has been dug, the female turtle drops her eggs, as many
as a hundred at a time. She buries them and returns to the ocean.

From the beginning of its life, the baby sea turtle must struggle to
survive. Defenceless as it is against squadrons of scavenger birds,
its first steps in the direction of the water are fraught with
danger. If the sea turtle reaches the surf alive, the struggle
against ocean predators is just beginning.

There was a symbolic association between the sea turtle and the
constellation Pleiades - known also as the Seven Sisters. As those
sea turtles make their way across the sands to lay their eggs, the
constellation coincidentally made its pre-dawn appearance in the
summer skies.

Perhaps nowhere is the turtle more revered than in the South
Pacific, where its status in ancestral society was sacred. For its
association with deities and chiefs, the turtle tattoo motif is a
favourite in Polynesia. Placement of the tattoo in traditional
Polynesian tattooing was significant, since it implied a person's
genealogy, social status and personal accomplishments. An account by
a returning missionary to London relates how the knees of the chief,
Te Pou, were 'tattooed with the most sacred of all fish, and
reserved for the chief alone.'

In French Polynesia, where the sea turtle is an ocean deity, it
appears in many of the carved columns as a symbol of fertility. The
turtle is placed above a depiction of the king and queen embracing.
These columns are placed to mark a sacred site.

Amongst the peoples of the Polynesian Islands, the turtle was often
a ritual offering. Turtle feasts took place during particular lunar
months. In ancient Hawaii, the sea turtle was the manifestation of
the Creator god, and to eat it was to connect with that Creator. It
was believed that the head of the turtle lived on after being
separated from its body.

The greatest of the swimming turtles is the Hawaiian green sea
turtle. Families that revered the turtle as a personal deity took
special care not to harm it, much less eat it. Legend tells of one
Hawaiian turtle that could transform into a human form if the need
arose to protect children playing at the ocean's edge.

The oldest known turtle was owned by the Tonga royal family - living
from 1777 to 1965.